A deep 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck near the Northern Mariana Islands in the western Pacific on Tuesday, the US Geological Survey said, but no tsunami warning was issued.

The quake hit 42 kilometres (26 miles) west of Agrihan and 395 kilometres north of the main island Saipan, but it was at a depth of 603 kilometres and seismologists said it was too deep to cause any impact.

"Obviously people may get a small shake but there's hardly any population around there," Geoscience Australia seismologist David Jepson told AFP.

"There's definitely no tsunami and it was too deep and too far away from anywhere to have caused any damage."

A self-governing commonwealth of the United States since 1976, the Northern Marianas consists of 15 islands, with more than 90 percent of the population of 54,000 living on Saipan. Only four other islands are populated.

Strong Iran quake kills child, causes damageTehran, Iran (AFP) May 11, 2013
A strong earthquake of 6.2 magnitude hit southern Iran early on Saturday, killing one child and injuring at least 20 others in remote, mountainous villages, state television reported.
The US Geological Survey registered the quake at 0208 GMT, measured at 85 kilometres (52 miles) southeast of the town of Minab, located in the southern Hormuzgan province and off the Strait of Hormuz.
The q ... read more

The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency.
All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement